The UK has delivered 44 Challenger One tanks to the Jordanian military as part of its assistance program, which includes eventually supplying the army with more than 250 tanks, a government official said on Saturday.

The new shipment, which arrived in Jordan on Friday, brings the number of British-made tanks provided to the kingdom to over 200, the official told the Jordan Times.

Presented free of charge, the vehicles are meant to enhance the army's defense capabilities, the official said.

The Challenger Ones, which have been renamed Al Hussein tanks, will be overhauled in Jordan because they have been in service with the British army for more than 20 years.

“We are doing our best to diversify the sources of weapons we obtain for the armed forces,” the official told the paper.

Jordan is in the process of negotiating arms deals with Russia, in a move that is seen as a hint to the West, and the US in particular, to be more generous with military aid.

However, US military hardware comes with strings attached, a fact that became obvious this summer, when the kingdom had to seek US permission to give used American tanks to the Lebanese army – Albawaba.com